I am not able to take satisfactory pictures with my Canon 7D and Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM .

I am not able to take satisfactory pictures with my Canon 7D and Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM. Pictures are either under exposed, over exposed or not the right skin tone. This is mainly happening with flash photography. It is very disappointing. Any help in this regard is much appreciated

Re: I am not able to take satisfactory pictures with my Canon 7D and Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

After you've done the above "Reset" tell us whether you're shooting in AUTO or any of the other modes & if you know how to use Flash Exposure Compensation. It allows you to make adjustments when you get less than correct exposures BUT only within reason. The flash output can only light a certain area & distance so if you're shooting from too great a distance things will be underexposed.

"A skill is developed through constant practice with a passion to improve, not bought."

Re: I am not able to take satisfactory pictures with my Canon 7D and Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

I'm assuming that you're using the flash on the 7D? The small flashes that come with cameras aren't very good unfortunately. They've gotten a lot better, but there are physical limitations that they can't overcome. If using the flash as your main light source it's going to look flat and harsh. However, they do an ok job at fill flash, that is, filling in shadows or adding to ambient light. As said above, learn flash exposure compensation and turn it down a notch or two. Also check that you're flash is using "ETTL-II" mode, not manual, though if you do a full reset as Biggs suggested it should set it to ETTL.

Re: I am not able to take satisfactory pictures with my Canon 7D and Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

Doesn't mean to offense but flash photography is hard. People may take a life time to master it. It takes skill, knowledge and experience to get good and consistent result. There is not setting on a camera to make the photo looks good. I don't think there is anything wrong with your camera. If you use on camera flash there is a lot of limitation that you should be aware of. I recommend you use manual mode first when learning about flash.

Re: I am not able to take satisfactory pictures with my Canon 7D and Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

Mr. Ebiggs1, as per your advise I did the same and the results are much better, rather impressive. The color contrast is also very good. My family was quite happy with the pictures I took on a recent family event. I have to sincerely thank you for that. Sorry it took me a long time to reply as I was making sure that it had actually fixed the problem.

However , I have more findings which have again prompted me to take your help in this forum:

1. With an External flash - 430 EX set at ETTL, the pictures in the room when bounced from the ceilings are good, however when I am taking in closed areas but the ceiling is very high or open areas in the night the picture is unexpectedly dark. The camera mode I am using is CA.

2. When the subject covers the most of the frame ,pictures are crisp, however when the subject is not covering the significant portion (and the zoom is on wide angle) though the metering points indicate the subject in focus but in the resulting image the subject is not in focus and some other areas are in focus.

The lens as I had mentioned was working very well on my SLR but is of course 11-12 yrs old.

I am now using my camera more and more to figure out the gray areas and improve my skills, however I would be grateful for any further suggestions.

Re: I am not able to take satisfactory pictures with my Canon 7D and Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

Mr. cicopo, Thanks for your previous advise which did significantly improve the picture quality but I have an issue with the flash pictures, maybe you can guide

With an External flash - 430 EX set at ETTL, the pictures in the room when bounced from the ceilings are good, however when I am taking in closed areas but the ceiling is very high or open areas in the night the picture is unexpectedly dark. The camera mode I am using is CA.

Re: I am not able to take satisfactory pictures with my Canon 7D and Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

Although I did own a 7D for 3 years I never used CA mode nor did I know anything about so I checked the manual to see what it is. A quick read tells me it sort of lets you control the aperture for different depth of field effects but otherwise it doesn't offer anything I'd try using for except to prove to myself it was or wasn't useful. As for bouncing your flash you are running up against the limits of what can be done when the ceiling is too high or the distance too great. Unfortunately every flash has this problem so one must learn how to deal with it or add more light with off camera strobes. You can brighten your image by selecting a higher ISO for the shot, or darken it with a lower ISO (but again there are limits) OR to brighten you use a slower shutter speed & to darken a faster one (you're still limited because cameras have a max sync speed, and it there's movement it will blur at a slow shutter speed). Aperture is the final part of the equation and frankly you're working with a less than ideal consumer grade lens which may prove decent outdoors but it isn't ideal indoors. It may be time to research a better lens for your indoor work.

"A skill is developed through constant practice with a passion to improve, not bought."